In the third inning, Jordan Schafer’s
bunt was fielded by a diving Lackey, who scooped the ball to first base with his glove. He nearly collided with second baseman
Dustin Pedroia on the play but Pedroia backed off.

“A.J. was just being funny,” said Lackey, who was kidding with Pedroia also. “Nothing happened on that.”

Lackey was stung for five runs on 10 hits in 4⅔ innings. He allowed home runs to Andrelton Simmons and a two-run shot to Dan Uggla. Over his last two outings he’s allowed 10 runs in 9⅔ innings.

“I felt fine,” insisted Lackey. “I definitely thought I threw the ball better this time compared to the last time. I definitely had a good bullpen session in between, felt like my slider was better. The last one I threw to Uggla wasn’t a good one. But I got up to 80-something pitches.”

Rather than throttle down, as most pitchers do in their last outing, Lackey will continue to throttle up. It was part of the master plan by manager
John Farrell and pitching coach Juan Nieves to start Lackey slowly and build him up right until his first start.

“I’ll just keep going for real,” Lackey said. “I have a night game next time so I’ll get after it a little bit more. I’d like to go into the season not being on a pitch count. Just normal. It’s spring training.

“I’m not concerned about the numbers, just trying to build arm strength.”

Lackey thinks he won’t hit full throttle “for a few more weeks, to be honest with you. I’ll be good enough to compete.”

Despite the rocky outing, Lackey was comfortable working with Pierzynski.

“It’s been pretty easy,” Lackey said. “I haven’t shook him off once. We incorporate a new pitch each time. Calls a good game. He’s a good hitter so that helps him game-calling.”

Caught off guard

The Red Sox had three base-running mishaps, two involving Daniel Nava on caught-stealings. One came on the front end of what looked like a botched double-steal. “Nava gave two shuffles [with his feet],” explained Farrell. “When a base runner crosses over with the intention of taking off, that’s what Vic [Shane Victorino] was reading. As we talked about before with Daniel, we’re trying to get him to be more aggressive on the bases and for him to test those limits a lot more.” . . . Farrell was again pleased with the work of Francisco Cordero, who allowed one hit in his one scoreless inning. “Cordero has done an outstanding job using all his pitches. He’s made the most of the opportunities,” Farrell said . . . Farrell refused to officially announce Jon Lester as the Opening Day starter, but he said, “Count the days, it’s not a secret.” . . . Farrell indicated that he thought the team’s game plan of easing pitchers into their spring training workload has worked well. The starters all seem ready for the start of the season. Farrell said he’ll lay out a game plan for the starters for the final few days of camp. “I like the way our starters have come along early,” he said. “The work plan has physically agreed with them.”

Good Breslow outing

Farrell said lefthander
Craig Breslow, brought along slowly because of last season’s workload, threw to hitters Friday and, “[it] was a really good day. He was strong, good command of his stuff, but we have to be realistic. Last year you had to take him out of the mix on a given day because he always wants the ball. He would have benefited more by a few more days of rest. We’ll have to make that decision for him.” If Breslow doesn’t start the season with the Sox, it could open up a spot for Cordero or Brandon Workman, or even lefties Tommy Layne (eight scoreless innings, including 1⅓ Saturday), or Rich Hill . . . Center fielder Grady Sizemore had the day off, but he’ll begin a three-days-in-a-row stint starting Sunday . . . David Ortiz was also given the day off. His contract extension talks seem to be drawing to a conclusion, with a possible announcement soon. Lester’s contract talks are progressing, but the sides are not as close as it has been characterized the past couple of days, according to a source close to the talks . . . There has been speculation that the Braves will move out of here soon and could consider the Fort Myers/Naples area as a destination.